University of North Carolina Athletics
LEE PACE'S EXTRA POINTS: Heels, Hoos Rivalry Competitive As Ever.
October 15, 2001 | Football
Oct. 15, 2001
NOTE: Readers are encouraged to view this week's Extra Points in the convenient PDF Format. PDF Format contains all material seen below, as well as additional content that is only available through PDF, including The Inner Game. 
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By Lee Pace
The oldest football rivalry in the South began a new chapter Saturday when the universities of North Carolina and Virginia convened for their 107th renewal. Some things change, some are the same when it comes to these ancient rivals who share so many similarities, particularly those of having excellent academic institutions in picture-book college towns.
There are first-year head coaches with strong ties to the NFL--John Bunting, coming to Carolina from eight years as NFL assistant, and Al Groh, new to Virginia after 11 years as an assistant and one as a head coach. There are only two assistant coaches who are holdovers of more than one season to the previous regimes--Kenny
for 162 yards against Virginia on Saturday. |
And they continue to play competitive football games where the sweat runs, the molars gnash and the blood races in the assembled masses. This last one was collected into the win column by the Tar Heels, 30-24 on an Indian-summer afternoon in Kenan Stadium.
"I enjoyed it immensely," Groh said. "I liked the competition. I thought it started with the first play and lasted until the second to last play. A lot of good things competitively--matching wits, players, coaches, what not and whatever. I thought it was a fun game."
"It's a 60-minute game, isn't it?" Bunting said. "Every minute of it, every second of it."
Carolina continued its remarkable resurgence in claiming its fourth-straight win. The Tar Heels are 4-3 with consecutive triumphs over Florida State, N.C. State, East Carolina and Virginia. Coming next are road trips at Clemson and Georgia Tech. As much as Bunting insists on a one-game-at-a-time mentality, he acknowledged Saturday that he's addressed the big picture with his team. With the ACC having five bowl tie-ins--the Bowl Championship Series, the Gator Bowl, Peach Bowl, Tangerine Bowl and Seattle Bowl--and the Tar Heels looking solid as favorites in at least three remaining games, a seven-win season and post-season berth is a very real goal in mid-October.
"I told the football team we had an opportunity to maybe turn the corner this week and maybe get a peek at what's down the road about having a special season," Bunting said. "I think we're at that point. We have a real chance to do something special."
"We're maturing," senior center Adam Metts said. "We're playing smarter and we're playing better football. It's something you have to gain the knowledge of just from playing the game. The fact that we're able to come back from an 0-3 start speaks a lot about the character of the players and coaches here."
Bunting and the Tar Heels find themselves in the pleasant position of celebrating victories while at the same time fretting over breakdowns and miscues. That's quite the contrast from the season's first month, when the Tar Heels went 0-3 and appeared to be in for a dismal autumn. When you've lost three straight to the Cavaliers/Wahoos/whatever, winning and finding fault are strange bedfellows.
"Offensively, it's the third week in a row we've played very well in the second half," Bunting said, noting Carolina's 40-28 second-half scoring advantage over that period, a statistic that would seem even more imposing had not the defense allowed late-game, last-ditch drives by both East Carolina and Virginia.
"We did some good things in the first half but didn't capitalize in the red zone. We've had six opportunities and gotten only two touchdowns. That's not good enough.
"On the other side, we've got work to do. We've got things in the secondary we really goofed up on. The players should learn from this, at least I hope they do. We have to play better in the secondary.
"Our special teams were as good as we've played all year. They fought and fought and fought. We played a tape on Sunday of a lot of those plays just to show how important they are to our success in trying to win a football game."
Sophomore tailback Andr? Williams gets better each week, and this Saturday he ran behind a line that had its best game of the year. Williams gained 147 yards on 28 carries--many of them outside the tackles--and had three explosive runs of 13, 18 and 38 yards. Quarterbacks Ronald Curry and Darian Durant combined for a good percentage on passing downs--13-of-21 for 243 yards, one interception and one touchdown. Durant took the bulk of snaps Saturday because Curry was hobbled by a
three catches for 90 yards. |
"I like what we're doing with the quarterbacks," Bunting said. "The system has worked well. Ronald did some outstanding things Saturday. He's playing better. We have the chance to take advantage of the deep threat we have with that arm of his. And we get Darian on the field and he gets an opportunity to be the playmaker he is."
Curry said afterward that the injury isn't serious, that he could have played but bowed to Bunting's opinion that because he was limping in warm-ups at halftime, it would be best if he didn't play.
"I expect we'll know the extent of Ronald's injury by the end of the day Monday," Bunting said. "If he's not full speed on Tuesday, we'll make plans to work Darian more. But I think he will be fine."
The Tar Heels led at halftime 17-10 and for the first time this season, they were left to ponder the margin they might have had if not for offensive breakdowns in opponent's territory. Freshman tailback Jacque Lewis fumbled it away at the Virginia 20. Durant threw an interception at the Cavalier nine. And Curry was sacked on third down inside the 10, leading to a field goal. The Tar Heels averaged eight yards a snap on first-half plays.
Williams also made a key fourth-quarter miscue. Carolina had the game apparently in control with two minutes left, leading 30-17, when Williams fumbled to give Virginia its last TD drive. That's three weeks in a row Carolina has fumbled the ball inside opposing territory in the fourth quarter.
"It would have to be a lack of concentration," Bunting said. "Ball security was a huge point of emphasis last week. We knew their defense did a good job getting the ball on the ground. It's a part of Al's background. A big part of Al's background is stripping the ball. We made sure our running backs understood that. We made sure Ronald understood that because he sometimes carries the ball in poor position, in dangerous position, when he breaks out on those runs of his. But it's obvious the coaching didn't take this week."
Bunting was also very specific Sunday in addressing some of the Tar Heels' defensive concerns. Carolina yielded 405 net yards, 334 of them through the air.
"We lost contain on the quarterback too frequently, particularly on our left side. We're not getting pieces of receivers. We're not getting to the right depth or width to make a break on the ball in zone coverage. We've had some man coverage breakdowns. We've gotten picked off where we should have been in better position to attack the receiver.
"We had three third downs on the drive to start the second half where we just didn't compete hard enough in man coverage, we watched the quarterback too much, which you can't do once you're beyond three steps. There were just a lot of basic fundamentals in coverage that we've got to address and get fixed."
One outstanding play by the defense, however, was a 67-yard interception return by sophomore safety Dexter Reid. With the Heels leading 23-17 early in the fourth quarter, Reid covered Virginia tight end Kaze Luzar in the flat and picked a bobbled pass out of mid air and raced to the house.
"The quarterback threw it a little behind the receiver," Reid said. "Once he bobbled it, it bounced my way and I had nothing but open field in front of me. That was a big play. Our first goal on defense is to score, and we haven't had many picks this year."
The Tar Heel staff was concerned about Virginia's ability in the kicking game and Bunting was delighted to emerge with what he believed was a decided edge in that phase of the game.
* Carolina's Mike Waddell blocked a Virginia field goal.
* John Lafferty hit three punts for an average of 45 yards.
* Jeff Reed was perfect kicking field goals, notching kicks of 30, 22 and 38 yards.
* The kick-off cover team limited Virginia to 19.5 yards on four returns, and the punt cover team allowed Cavaliers only five yards on two returns.
* Bosley Allen averaged 15 yards on three punt returns.
* And the punt team perfectly executed a fake late the game.
"We pushed them hard this week," Bunting said. "I have a lot of respect for what Al and his staff do in the kicking game. We felt they won the kicking game in every one of their games. I think we won today."
That habit of winning is getting more and more familiar around John Bunting and the Tar Heels.
NOTE: Readers are encouraged to view this week's Extra Points in the convenient PDF Format. PDF Format contains all material seen below, as well as additional content that is only available through PDF, including The Inner Game. Download Free Acrobat Reader
Many Tar Heel fans enjoyed Lee Pace's six-part series chronicling the playing and coaching careers of coach John Bunting that appeared at TarHeelBlue.com last spring. Now those same stories are available with new material in a book that promises to be a collector's item in the future.
Born & Bred is now available. It is on sale at a variety of venues around campus and Chapel Hill, as well as in the TarHeelBlue.com FANStore and by mail order.
New chapters cover Bunting's coaching staff, his visit in May to Tar Heel legend Charlie "Choo Choo" Justice, and efforts to improve the game-day experience in Kenan Stadium. In addition, there are sidebars on the 1980 Carolina championship team, led by Kelvin Bryant, and Bunting's key role in the 1982 NFL players' strike. Contact Lee Pace today at leepace@earthlink.net for ordering information.
Extra Points, now in its 12th year, is published 15 times a year, once following all Carolina football games as well as at the beginning of the season, the end of the season and at the end of recruiting and spring practice. Subscriptions $30 per year, payable by check or MC/Visa to:
Extra Points Publishing Co.
101-A Aberdeen St.
Chapel Hill, NC 27516
Lee Pace, Editor & Publisher
919/933-2082, leepace@earthlink.net
First Annual
"Wreck Tech"
UNC Golf
Tournament
followed by
Pre-Game Party.
Make plans now for a golf tournament, pre-game social and then the Tar Heels vs. Georgia Tech in Atlanta on Thursday, Nov. 1. Play "The Frog Golf Course" at the Georgian Resort at 10 a.m. The pre-game party will be held at 5 p.m. at the Atlanta Brewing Company (located on Williams Street in downtown Atlanta). Cost is $50 for golf and $21 for dinner. Call the Eductional Foundation at 919/945-2000 for more information.
Fall is the perfect time of year to visit Pinehurst, and this month is better than ever with our Bed, Breakfast & Birdie offer. Now through November 17, you can get two nights' accommodations, complimentary breakfasts, three rounds of golf (including one round on No. 8) and a sleeve of Titleist golf balls for one low price-$496 per person, double occupancy, and $246 for non-golfers.
Call 1.800.IT'S.GOLF (487-4653) and ask for the Bed, Breakfast & Birdie offer, or visit Pinehurst.com/bbb.
